Courtneyah's Profile

Yes, you can eat well and cheaply at Pike Place Market, and it's very much worth seeing. I have a six year old and she loves it there. Some of our (mine and my six year old's) favorite spots for food in the Market are Mr. D's Greek Deli (the gyros are great), The Crumpet Shop, and the Daily Dozen doughnut stand.

If you get a chance, drop into DeLaurenti's and see if they have their Salumi salami. It's called Rosmarino, and you can only get it there, and it's ridiculously tasty. We wander around the Market eating slices as we go. DeLaurenti's has other good snacks, too.

I think if I were coming in late and staying on Fairview, I'd be inclined to stop at the Whole Foods Market on Denny and get some of their takeout. That might be one of the simplest, cheapest, and tastiest options in the vicinity.

I recently tried Tilth for the first time and was really disappointed. The food was good but not excellent, the room was loud and cold (on a chilly night) and the service was pretty awful. I'm not particularly hard to please, so I was honestly surprised by how unhappy I was when I left.

Shiro's is in Belltown, and I think he's way more about food than flash.

I haven't been, but a friend with very difficult food sensitivities recommends Marjorie, which is also in Belltown. She was impressed by how accommodating they were to her menu alteration requests, and then doubly impressed by how good everything tasted when it arrived. She said her group of six (including a meat eaters and picky vegans) were all pretty happy there.

Did you happen to see this recipe: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10761? I just made these the other day - they were super tasty. After following the recipe, my one recommendation is chop the Ibarra chocolate very finely; larger bits make it difficult to slice through the refrigerated dough.

I second the Crumpet Shop and Aladin Gyro-cery suggestions, and also want to mention Dante's hotdogs and sausages ($3-5, I think), and piroshky. I used to go to Cafe Yarmulka (sp?) in Pike Place Market... don't know if it's there anymore.

Columbia City, all the way. It is still (compared to most neighborhoods) affordable, and it has wonderful food options, many of which are listed by ceester up above. It is also close to downtown and the International District, both of which have fabulous food options.

Another option is Fremont/Ballard. It's where I live, with my moderate salary and my small child and my love of food and we do pretty well over here. It's more difficult to find decently-priced housing (we rent) but it's not impossible. For food we have Paseo, Cafe Besalu, Carmelita, Le Gourmand, cookies from the Greenwood Bakery, PCC's deli, Gordito's, Ray's Boathouse, and the Stumbling Goat Bistro, among others.

Also, a large number of the highly sought after public schools are in the Fremont/Ballard area, which means your chances of getting both kids into a good public school may (arguably) be higher over on this end of town.

I'm a huge fan of Le Gourmand in Ballard. The food is incomparable. It is expensive, though. If there doesn't happen to be a bachelorette party going on (like the night I was there) the accompanying bar, Sambar, is a great place to get variations on the delicious food for a lower price. Additionally, I've never had more exquisite drinks than I had at Sambar and Le Gourmand.

I also like Matt's in the Market for lunch or dinner. There's also a funky little crepe place in Fremont called Bouchee that can be very romantic. Their prices are reasonable; the antipasto is excellent and makes a good meal; and if you go on a Friday, there's a great magician who wanders table to table.

Oh! And the Boat Street Cafe on Lower Queen Anne. Just ate there recently for the first time, and it was beautiful - the atmosphere and the food.